Amalgam carrier



AMALGAM CARRIER Filed Oct. 19, 1959 8 13 72 mrgmrnmnn/gmn I x 5;; J 5 42 6a A I 5 J6 If {3/ I JNVENTOR, Haul. A Z ANQEERG;

ATTORNEY Patented Apr. 10, 1982 3,028,672. AMALGAM CAmdER Paul I. Zandherg, 7 54 N. Martel Ave, Los Angeles, Calif. Filed Get. 19, 1959, Ser. No. 847,360 3 Claims. (Cl. 32-60) The present invention relates to a dental instrument commonly termed an amalgam carrier, and constitutes a means whereby amalgam may be directed into a tooth cavity by the dentist.

An object of the invention is to provide an amalgam carrier, the head of which may be moved to different angularities relative to a handle, for ease in directing amalgam into a tooth cavity and regardless of the location of the tooth in the mouth.

It is quite common to use amalgam as a dental filling for the reason that the tissues tolerate the amalgam and the amalgam withstands the forces of mastication as well as having many other desired features. It is customary to use some type of instrument for inserting the amalgam within the cavity followed by use of so-called plugging or packin instruments, burnishers and files for finishing margins. The instrument of the present invention is adapted to be dipped into the amalgam to be thereafter ejected from the carrier into the cavity of the tooth.

One great fault of amalgam carriers now on the market and with which the inventor is'familiar, is that if the amalgam is allowed to harden within the nozzle of the carrier, it is practically impossible to remove the amalgam from the nozzle, and thus the instrument is rendered inoperative and in many instances requires complete replacement of the instrument. With my invention, that portion which receives the amalgam does not permit the amalgam to adhere thereto with the result that the amalgam is easily removed.

A further object of the present invention is the provision of an amalgam carrier of simple construction, easily manipulated, inexpensive in cost of manufacture, and generally superior to amalgam carriers now known to the inventor.

In the drawing:

FIGURE 1 is a side elevation of the amalgam carrier as an entirety;

FIGURE 2 is a top plan view of the invention shown in FIGURE 1; and

FIGURE 3 is a fragmentary sectional view, on an enlarged scale, taken on the line 33 of FIGURE 2.

The amalgam carrier includes an elongated handle formed by two cooperating and identical members 1 and 2, and a head 3 revoluble relative to the end of the handle so as to assume different angularities relative to the handle.

In FIGURE 1 the head is shown as rotatable through a 45 angle, which is to say, the head may be at right angles to the longitudinal axis of the handle or be moved to a 45 angle relative to said axis. Referring to FIG- URE 3, each member 1 and 2 of the handle is identically formed both interiorly and exteriorly, and accordingly, the member 2 will be described. The handle member 2 immediately below the top edge 4 is longitudinally grooved at 5, the groove being of a width slightly greater than the width of a rack 6 so that the rack may be moved within and guided by walls bounding the groove 5. Groove merges with a further grooved portion designated generally as 7, one marginal bounding wall of which extends on a curve downwardly from groove 5, as shown at 8, toward the marginal base wall 9 of the handle resulting in a narrow wall 10, which wall extends upwardly and outwardly on a curve as shown at 11. A similar construction is provided for the top wall in that a narrow grooves 5 and 7, the wall 12 extending downwardly and then on a curve, as shown at 13. The walls, both 11 t and 13, are terminated at 14 and 15 leaving a space at 16 which communicates with and lies in the base plane of the groove 7. The wall 12 is provided with a slot at 17 aifording entrance to groove 5 and the rack 6 is provided with a stud 18 passed through the slot 17, to which stud and externally of top 4, is attached a slide 19 by means of a screw 20, or other suitable means. This slide may have various configurations, although in the present instance it has a plane base 21 which slides on the top 4 of the handle. The top of the slide is concave, as shown at 22, and may be knurled or serrated, as shown.

The head 3 includes a casing or housing having a pair of parallel extended side walls 30 and 31 which are joined together by a curved portion 32 and top and bottom walls 33 and 34 joining the side walls. The top and bottom walls 33 and 34 are of different lengths, the top wall being the shortest with the side walls extending beyond the ends of the top and bottom walls, the ends of the side walls are curved, as shown at 35 and 36. The lower wall 34 is provided with an externally threaded fitting 37 to which is threaded a nozzle 38. The nozzle is provided with an axial bore 44) and an enlarged diameter portion 41 which is internally screw threaded for engagement with the threads of the fitting 37. This construction results in an annular shoulder at 42. Within the bore 4% of the nozzle 38 is a bushing 43 having a flanged head 44 which head rests upon the shoulder 42 with the end of fitting 37 bearing thereagainst. This bushing is formed of a plastic such as Teflon. Teflon has the characteristic of not adhering to amalgam.

Adapted for movement within the bushing 43 is an elongated cylindrical plunger 45 which plunger is secured to the end of a rack 46.

Positioned within the groove 7 are a train of gears 51? to 54 inclusive. The gear teeth intermesh and have the same pitch, with the teeth of the gear 50 engaging the teeth of the rack 6 while the teeth of gear 54 engage the teeth of rack 46. The gears 50 to 53 inclusive are mounted upon transverse pins 55 to 58 inclusive. The pins 55 to 58 inclusive extend between the two halves 1 and 2 of the handle, while gear 54 is mounted upon a pin 59 which'extends between the two sides 39 and 31 of the head. It will, of course, be realized that when the two halves of the handle are in juxtaposition, the same may be secured together by other transverse pins, one of which is shown at as.

The operation, uses and advantages of the invention are as followsi The operator engages the serrated surface 22 with the finger while holding the handle and moves the slide so as to raise the plunger 45 within the nozzle. Obviously, retrograde movement of the slide will revolve the train of gears so as to raise the rack 46. The nozzle is then dipped into the amalgam and the amalgam will fill the bore 7% of the bushing. The head 3 is rotated to a given angularity best suited to dental needs, the type of cavity, and its location, the nozzle being inserted into the cavity whereupon the slide is moved in an opposite direction to cause the gear train to move the rack 46 downwardly, the plunger ejecting the amalgam from the nozzle and into the base of the cavity.

Primarily, I have not indicated the present instrument as being a plugging or a packing instrument although it is obvious that it may be so used, if desired. Generally after using the amalgam carrier, other instruments are employed for the packing and the plugging of the amalgam in the cavity.

The head 3 rotates relative to the pin 58 although it is evident that the head may be otherwise secured to the handle by means of screws on either side of said head, one of which is shown in FIGURE 1 at 71.

As previously set forth, the bushing 43 is of a material to which amalgam will not adhere and as a consequence no difiiculty is encountered by the dentist if, for some reason, the amalgam is allowed to remain within the nozzle and should harden therein. Most amalgam carriers with which the inventor is familiar, do not use any bushing and if amalgam is allowed to enter the bore of the metal nozzle and remain there for a time, the amalgam hardens and adheres to the nozzle rendering removal therefrom almost impossible and often requiring a new nozzle. With the present invention, the nozzle may be unscrewed from the portion 37 which will release the bushing if the bushing should become damaged and thus permit a new bushing to be inserted.

The construction of the head is such as to limit the degree of rotation thereof relative to the handle. The top wall 33, when the head is revolved anti-clockwise, will strike the upper wall of the handle to limit rotation in one direction while the lower wall 34 will strike the bottom wall of the handle to limit rotation in a second direction.

I claim:

1. An amalgam carrier including: a handle, a head swingingly mounted to one end of said handle, a rack within the handle, and a second rack within the head,

a nozzle secured to the head, a plunger secured to said second rack for reciprocal movement within the nozzle, a train of gears within the handle and the head, the end gears of the train meshing with the racks, and means carried by the handle for moving the first rack to rotate the train of gears and move the second rack.

2. An amalgam carrier including: a two part handle, the interior of each part being complementarily grooved, a train of gears within the grooves of both parts of the handle and a first rack positioned between the grooved parts and meshing with one gear of the train, a head secared to one end of said handle for rotation relative to the handle, a nozzle extending from the head, a plunger within the nozzle, :1 second rack secured to the plunger, the second rack in mesh with one gear of the gear train whereby reciprocal movement of the first rack rotates the train of gears to move the second rack and reciprocate the plunger,

3. The device of claim 2: a stud projecting from the first rack, the handle being formed with a slot through which said stud projects, and a finger piece secured to the stud for moving the rack.

References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES FATENTS 

